Pretty simplistic as expected, but full of pretty shots of various impressive monuments. Never heard of the one in LA though! Nice little shots of Wat Pho too, which I'm about to jet off to in 6 hours!

householder said:: Nice little shots of Wat Pho too, which I'm about to jet off to in 6 hours!

Can't see the movie here in Australia - but enjoy your trip!

with mettaChris

---The trouble is that you think you have time------Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe------It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---

Yes, we watched it two nights ago.First off its wildly ambitious. It attempts a potted history of Dhamma in all its cultural and developmental diversity in one and a quarter hours........Secondly its choices of location seem odd.The presenter for example to illustrate Zen visits a Chan Temple in California, but hardly even mentions Japan..Having said that the presenter ( Bettany Hughes ) is clearly sympatico and is articulate and highly professional.She is a historian who has fronted a number of TV history documentary. She is both learned and telegenic, which keeps her busy in front of TV cameras.. There is input from both Uma Thurman's dad, and Richard Gombrich who comes across like a parody of a Teutonic academic...It is beautifully filmed.I think it may well arouse an interest in some of its viewers. And thats about as much as one can expect from a populist TV programme isnt it ?

I just watched it. I think the presenter pronounces Theravada in an odd way and badly misrepresents some of the Dhamma (for example; kamma and punabbhava). I think it fails as a sightseeing film (it missed some key locations in favour of big shiny statues) and as an educational film. I found it disappointing.

Mawkish1983 wrote:I just watched it. I think the presenter pronounces Theravada in an odd way and badly misrepresents some of the Dhamma (for example; kamma and punabbhava). I think it fails as a sightseeing film (it missed some key locations in favour of big shiny statues) and as an educational film. I found it disappointing.

I think she was actually rephrasing Gombrichs rather odd interpretation of kamma.

Where did the Biggest Reclining Buddha of Afganistan go? Where did the Golden Mount of Burma go?Where did the Historic Ancient Buddhist temples go? Where did the Tripitaka Marble Slabs (worlds largest book) go?

Hsi Lai Temple in San Francisco? I am pretty sure there are many other Wonders in Asia more wondrous than this.

It is obvious that the narrator didnt do the research properly. And she didnt even know what she was talking about regarding Buddhism.

Since the BBC show topic has also morphed into what should be the 7 or 8 wonders of the Buddhist world in general, I have merged it with this existing topic.

In the OP for this topic, my choices are based on:

Maha Bodhi Temple (most important site for Buddhists and in Bodh Gaya)And additional choices based on having at least one representative from Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Burma, considering their importance to Buddhism, especially Theravada Buddhism.World's largest book of any kind (the one in Burma, the Tipitaka on marble slabs) seems very appropriateAngkor Wat (largest Buddhist temple in the world, which is also a Theravada temple since about the year 1200).And then gotta have the internet, after all here we are discussing Dhamma on quite an invention that connects kalyana mittas from around the world.

+1 for Shwedagon. Haven't been to the other sights in Myanmar yet - Naypyidaw is a full day's return journey from Yangon and I didn't have enough time here for that, but will do next time.

My initial reaction was that the place had a similar atmosphere to Boudhanath Stupa which I visited last year, but it's markedly more mundane. It's a religious site and there's plenty of devotion and meditation and ritual going on, but that's intertwined with general social congregation and activity. It's quite hard to describe - it's awe-inspiring but at the same time without pomp.

David N. Snyder wrote:7. The Global Pagoda is a monument being built in Mumbai, India. The Global Pagoda is built out of gratitude to the Buddha, his teaching and the community of monks practicing his teaching. Its traditional Burmese design is an expression of gratitude towards the country of Myanmar (Burma) for preserving the practice of vipassana.

The inside of the pagoda is hollow and serves as a very large meditation hall with an area covering more than 6000 m2 (65,000 ft2). This magnificent structure represents the rapid spread of the Dhamma assisted by teachers such as S. N. Goenka who is the leader of the project and also that the Dhamma is coming back home, to India.

---The trouble is that you think you have time------Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe------It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---